Swami Sivananda

Combine all the love you cherish towards all worldly objects, wife, son, wealth, property, relatives, friends, and then apply this combined love towards God. You will realize in this very second. 

It is not very difficult to have Darshan (vision) of God, or to please Him. God is an ocean of mercy. He is a slave of His devotees. He ran with lightning speed to save Draupadi from the wicked hands of the Kauravas. 

He begged pardon of Prahlada for not coming to his rescue earlier. He caressed the dying bird, Jatayu, keeping him on His laps, and wiped off his dirt with the trusses of His hairs. He carried the palanquin of His devotee Tyagaraja and also water in a vessel for his ablution. 

He proudly bears, as an ornament, the scar left on His chest by the kick of Bhrigu. He wears the skulls of His devotees as a garland round His neck. The Lord Himself has admitted: "I am under the complete control of my Bhaktas." 

Pray to Him fervently for His Grace. Be up and doing in spiritual Sadhana, Bhajana, etc. Never waste a single minute. Pray fervently like Prahlad. Sing His name like Radha. 

Weep in solitude like Mira on account of His separation. Do kirtan like Lord Gauranga. Sing Bhajan like Ram Prasad of Bengal. Dance in Divine ecstasy like Chaitanya Maha Prabhu and enter into Bhava Samadhi. 

Repeat His Name like Valmiki, Tukaram and Ramdas. He will certainly bless you with His beatific vision, Supreme Knowledge, and Eternal Bliss.

- Swami Sivananda

Upadesa Saram - Post 18

Verse 15

नष्टमानसोत्कृष्टयोगिनः|

कृत्यमस्तिकिंस्वस्थितिंयतः||

naṣṭamānasotkṛṣṭayoginaḥ|

kṛtyamasti kiṁsvasthitiṁyataḥ||

For the exalted yogi, with mind destroyed,

Is there anything to be done, since his Self-abidance?

The Yogi who has destroyed his mind becomes an Utkrishta Yogi. The one who remains unchanged after the Laya state is called a NikrishtaYogi. 

The main focus in this verse is the Utkrishta Yogi, but before we describe more of him, let us see what the Nikrishta Yogi’s life is like. 

The Nikrishta Yogi: 

In the Nikrishta Yogi, Ego is still not conquered. On top of that, power is now heaped onto him, his access to superhuman powers gives him some recognition in society and so a “divine power” is also there. 

Such a Yogi gets caught in the trap of actions. He can use the Laya state to focus his mind on various Chakras in the body and thus acquire Siddhis or super-sensory powers. 

The Utkrishta Yogi: 

This is the exemplary Yogi. For the sage who has annihilated his mind, and realized that he is the Self, what is there for him to be done? The answer implied in the verse is “Nothing!” 

In this world, people do not like to see anybody ‘doing nothing’, even if there is nothing to do! Worse still is the attitude towards someone who has no duty. Such a person is criticized for being irresponsible and not contributing to the progress of society. Let us therefore see what this ‘nothing’ actually means. 

Where does the drive to act come from? – From discontent. The signature of discontent is Desire. In the ordinary person, discontent makes him seek something fulfilling to quench it. It arises from a sense of want, or incompleteness in life. Desire arises. In the hunt to satisfy desire, arises the chain referred to earlier as the “Desire-lineage”. (Avidya-Kama-Karma)

In the Utkrishta Yogi, there is no discontent, hence no desire to act to feel fulfilled or happy, because he is already happy. He has found the fountain of Happiness. There is no urgency to act to get happiness. There is no compulsion to DO anything. 

He may if he chooses, help others to attain the same state. He may even act to bring happiness to others. But these actions are not done to find happiness, for happiness he has already found. 

Such a Yogi is compared to an ocean which is ever full. The Ocean does not depend upon the clouds or rivers for its fullness. It does not overflow when rivers fall into it. It does not get shallow if they do not. 

“As the waters enter the ocean, which on account of being full on all sides, remains undisturbed, likewise he, in whom all objects merge themselves (without disturbing him) attains peace, not the one who has desires for objects (in order to be happy)’

(B.Gita chapter II, 70)

Abidance in the Self brings one the greatest happiness. It is the nature of the Self to be all-Bliss. 

For one who is inherently good, free from Raga and Dvesha, who is naturally upright, who is not sacred but sacredness itself – what is the need for duty and rules? 

The very breathing of such saints purifies this earth.

Love.

Upadesa Saram - Post 17

Verse 14

प्राणबन्धनाल्लीनमानसम् |

एकचिन्तनान्नाशमेत्यदः ||

prāṇabandhanāllīnamānasam |

ekacintanānnāśametyadaḥ ||

From the binding of the prana, the mind is dissolved.

From one thought, that reaches destruction.

The state of Mano-Laya is not to be criticized. It is a good thing to have attained a quiet mind; it is no joke to achieve this. Most people find that impossible. 

They are perpetually subjected to the captivity of the mind, except for the brief relief they get during sleep. So to be freed from the mind’s captivity may in itself be a victory of some sort for most people. However, having done that, the important thing is the next step. 

We cannot waste the opportunity of having a quiet mind in our hands. We rarely get this chance. Sri Ramana Maharshi tells us that such a mind is put to its best use by making it contemplate on the Self. A quiet mind is meant for knowledge, so we must give it that. 

The Laya mind does not possess the impulse to seek knowledge. It is an inert state. The impulse comes from one’s desire to know and to realize God. 

“Eka Chintanam”– The Contemplation on the One: 

Pranayama is the basis for and laya is samadhi. However, once you come out of this samadhi, you are not enlightened. 

Just as the example of “Our Self being clouded by our ignorance”given by the author in a series of the messages to few last week, here, it has to be observed in the context of this Laya and the experience after coming out of this temporary samadhi that “TRUTH OR SELF IS COVERED BY VRITTIS OR THOUGHT PATTERNS”.

Remove these thought patterns and SELF is revealed. Thus, sage Patanjali advocated that “the atma is covered by thoughts and you uncover Atman by chitta vritti nirodha, i.e., restraint or stoppage of thoughts.

Thoughts are like continuous flow of a river and due to the same, you are not able to see the ground under / beneath the flowing river, which is SELF.

So, how to use this laya state / practice to progress further in Spiritual Sadhana?

Let the Laya mind be used to reflect upon the Self. It is quiet. It has no disturbance. That is the best time to do Self-contemplation. The instrument of the mind is as we would want it to be – sharp and focused, with no distractions. What better use can we put it to? 

The snake and the rope example is very famous in Vedanta.

Even while one mistakes a rope to be a snake, the fact remains that rope and snake are two different entities and are not the same.

Problem is there only when we seriously mistake a rope to be a snake and in such a situation, rope verily becomes a snake due to our misapprehension.

Let us suppose this snake to be our thoughts and our pure SELF, the ATMAN to be Rope and see the following

Snake is there (notion)	Rope is there.
Snake is not there (notion is removed)	Rope is there.

Similarly,

Thoughts come	SELF is there.
Thoughts go	SELF is there.

Thus, we conclude atleast intellectually that “I AM THE SELF and Not the thoughts that come and go”

Thus, we keep the mind thus engaged and reflecting on the Self within. By prolonged practice the individuality is bound to crack, dissolve and get destroyed. 

This is what the verse holds out to us. Destruction of the mind should not alarm us; it is not something to be feared. The aim is to destroy the restlessness of the mind, which has ever been the bane of all human drama. 

The Maharshi is quite firm on the matter that there is no other way to destroy the mind but the contemplation of the Self. This happens in all of the Yogas in their advanced stage. 

Anything else we do with the mind in Laya would return us to the same old ‘fool’s paradise that we are already in. That is not worth it. 

Love.